


fallingforyou

by bxxtifulixr



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Anti-Capitalism, Best Friends, Cat Cafés, Chaotic friend groups, Comedy, Communism, Drama, F/F, F/M, Flirty Hwang Hyunjin, Fluff, Gay Characters, Gen, Grunge, Lesbian Characters, Light Angst, M/M, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Romance, Sneaking Out, Soundcloud rapper, Stray Kids Fluff, Stray Kids Imagines, Stray Kids Scenarios, Watching the Sunset, boy-scaredy girl, broken vending machine, car chasing, dance class, emo kids, halloween party, local band shows, minecraft players lol, playground, record store, spray painting, stolen drunk kisses, stray kids are high schoolers, vomiting on the car
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-27 03:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30116304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bxxtifulixr/pseuds/bxxtifulixr
Summary: the girl never pays much attention on lovey-dovey stuff until she meets a boy at the cat cafe.you’ll like this, come read w us!
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Original Character(s), Hwang Hyunjin/Original Female Character(s), Hwang Hyunjin/Reader





	1. character list

mari

pronouns: she/her

appearance: light brown with dyed blonde bangs but soon to have pink full head, short in height

extra: enjoys dancing, likes hyunjin, looks chaotic but always careful in her actions

hyunjin

pronouns: he/him

appearance: long blonde hair, tall in height

extra: dancing, likes mari (lol), drawing, flirty

ryujin

pronouns: she/her

appearance: short white hair, usually tomboy outfits, edgy style

extra: lesbian, likes watching movies, likes photography

rin

pronouns: she/her/any

appearance: black medium length hair, black glasses, any type of style, 5'4 in height 

extra: likes to study and read, has a long distance gf

cisco

pronouns: he/him,

appearance: quite short black hair, black glasses, lazy outfits, 5'6 in height

extra: likes photography, plays piano, gamer, mother of mari’s group.

jay

pronouns: they/any

appearance: long black hair with red strands, goth outfits and classy goth makeup, 5'3 in height

extra: dancer, artist, gamer, metalhead, mcyt fan

lennox

pronouns: they/any

appearance: short in height, grunge style

extra: likes movies & books, raging anti-capitalist

jisung

pronouns: he/him

appearance: blue hair, grunge style, black eyeshadow is his bestie

extra: passionate about music, gamer, jokes a lot with his friends, used to like minho

minho

pronouns: he/they

appearance: emo style, ginger hair, wears lots of hoodies

extra: gamer, mcyt fan, teases his friends a lot, used to like jisung but these mfs never confessed

felix

pronouns: he/any

appearance: white short mullet, freckles, soft features with soft and emo style, androgynous

extra: baking, cooking, shoplifting is a hobby, reads books

chan

pronouns: he/him

appearance: red hair, hostile features, never takes things seriously

extra: acts as caregiver of group, flirty, rapper/singer

seungmin

pronouns: he/him

appearance: purple hair, serene features but is generally an outgoing person

extra: is aggressive to close friends, likes fruits, second cargiver of the group,

jeongin

pronouns: he/him

appearance: white hair, warm knit sweaters, nice to everyone

extra: granny but he's the youngest in the group, probably has a garden

changbin

pronouns: he/him

appearance: black hair, buff, looks intimidating, is intimidating at times

extra: rapper & dancer, hates capitalism too, usually a serious person

———

authors' note:

as its the introduction of the characters, here is my introduction !! i'm one of the writers working on this story. some characters are based on people we know irl and personalities are created by us, so some may not be accurate for the sake of this story. hope you enjoy chapter one <3- author 2

hello kiddos, i am also one of the coolest writers on this story *bites lip* and not to brag or anything... but i am going to threaten you to read this story. i am looking at you. are you going to read it? yes? no? maybe?? am i hearing it right? are you saying yes or no? yes or no?? don't look at me like that, you sexy bitch. SLIDE THIS SHIT UP RIGHT NOW. READ IT. - author 1, the hottest writer


	2. cat cafe

_ sunday, october 24, 9:47 AM _

mari sprung up from her warm, snug bed, only to be struck by the single glowing sun beam seeping through her curtains. rubbing her eyes, mari felt the heaviness of the lack of sleep from the night before. the girl's legs dragged her out of the comfortable abode that was her bed.

she walked lazily to her broad window to the right side of her room, beginning to pull the fabric covering the majority of the bright sunlight. the glass window had grown mist overnight from the chilly weather as autumn had just made its appearance.

mari favorited the rain and the aspects of the cool season overall. it ignited a sort of excitement in her chest. she shifted into a more enthusiastic mood, wandering into her kitchen to make herself a savory breakfast.

the wooden tile floor was a cold touch to her feet, but she continued nonetheless, growing acquainted to the feeling. mari opened the refrigerator to pull out a carton of milk, needed to make her favorite banana chocolate-chip pancakes. in a matter of minutes, she had a stack of delectable, fluffy hotcakes, begging for mari to eat them.

only to disrupt the former joyous feeling, her phone blared out with the tiresome ringtone. the contact name read "ryujin." what could possibly be so important that she have to call so early in the morning about, thought mari. nevertheless, she finally slid her finger across her screen, putting it up against her ear.

"GOOD MORNING," ryujin exclaimed through the phone, making mari flinch.

"good morning," mari replied groggily, "please don't yell into my ear first thing in the morning."

"sure, sure. just get the hell ready for later. we're going out," returned mari's friend on the other side.

"hm, where to?" questioned mari, rolling her eyes as she did.

"it's a surprise. i promise you'll like it. i'll send you the address later, alright?" ryujin blabbed.

"alright, alright. see you later," mari concluded the call with her best friend.

———

mari wondered what the mirror saw from its view. definitely prominent would be her deadly look, accompanied with the messy hair and dark eye bags. she sighed loudly, rubbing her eyes and splashed the cold water on her face, forcing her to wake up.

it was 11:37 am. yes, it was certainly early for mari. she started getting ready, choosing which outfit to wear and wishing the son of the bitch of her friend could have told her yesterday, so she could've planned beforehand. i mean, it would have be easier, of course.

mari found a flowy, long sleeve pastel pink dress, that fit more on the longer side, in the back of her closet. she retrieved her mary jane platforms, along with ruffled socks, from her drawer.

she put on the outfit, giving her an instant confidence boost, thinking it's cute. she might even attract some hot people, she thought. mhm. yeah..what do you expect from mari.

mari had a very loud best friend, known as ryujin. sometimes, out of nowhere, she would hear ryujin yelling outside of her house. she heard her yelling on call. and when texting, mari could imagine her loud voice in her head, reading the messages. even in person, she swore she could hear ryujin yelling, despite her being completely silent. they would look at each other and just know what the other was thinking, like telepathy. the bestest of friends.

"are you coming out or what?" ryujin yelled, standing in front of mari's house.

mari finally came out of the inside, closing her eyes due to the overpowering sun. ryujin chuckled seeing her friend suffering.

"bitch, whatever," mari placed her hand above her eyes to cover the sun.

she quickly spun around to show off her outfit. her dress danced in the crisp wind. mari's straightened, bleached bangs flew up, to which she had to adjust. the warm sun that shone on mari's light, short brunette hair was the perfect mix with the autumn wind.

"i look very cool. swag. so sexy," mari looked up at ryujin, waiting for her to compliment her.  
except, it was just ryujin judging her.

"let's fucking go, you motherfucker," ryujin had already started walking away.

mari quickly caught up to only hit ryujin playfully on the shoulder and roll her eyes.

mari's inner thoughts on the walk were something like this: ah, autumn. everyone's favorite season. warm clothes. coffee in your hand. watching the leaves fall from the trees. that's the carefree dream life we all want, right?

after approximately ten minutes of walking, ryujin and mari had arrived at the cat cafe, cuddles & coffee, that ryujin was so excited to show mari. it was as simple as ordering a drink and proceeding to cuddle and pet all the cats. just vibes. it was every cat lover's dream.

"wait, oh my god, this is such a cute cafe. how come i've never seen this?" mari cooed as she saw the cats cuddling together beside the window.

ryujin herself loved cats and even had some at home.

"let's go inside!" ryujin jogged excitedly inside with mari.

the smell of coffee swept the air and entered the nostrils. mari looked down only to see that the cats had already started cuddling at her shoes. she bent down to pet each cat, smiling very brightly while thinking of what to order as she looked at the menu. she got up carefully, preventing herself from harming the cats and strolled to the cashier.

"ryujin, what do you want?" mari looked to her side, only to see that she was already cuddling with the cats, "ryujin..."

"oh, iced americano! good luck ordering!" ryujin smiled, putting her thumbs up.

mari shot her a death glare. so scary!

"hi, what can i get you?" she heard a voice from her right ear.

when she turned to face the speaker, she was met with a tall gorgeous man with long blonde hair and a white work apron. his hair was long, and not to mention appeared soft. the boy had his hair pulled back into a low ponytail, with strands of hair falling in the front, giving it a slightly messy look. that motherfucker was no doubt taller than her. for real, though. mari had to look up to so high that she was starting to feel her neck go sore.

"oh, uh, can i get iced americano and hot mocha?" she managed to sputter out, nervously.

 _someone please come save me! the beauty of this man is causing me to almost go into cardiac arrest!_ mari yelled at herself in her head.

he smiled, inputting the orders onto the machine, causing them to display on the screen. the drinks appeared to cost $9.25. mari reach into her tote bag for her wallet and retrieved a $10 bill. she extended her shaky hand to give the cashier the payment. he grabbed the other end of the bill, putting the paper money into the register box and calculating the change.

"alright! they'll be on their way!" he brought out both of his hands to give mari the change.

and oh, mari slightly touched his hands. mari felt her soul ascend immediately into heaven. she had always thought that she was going to be one of the many going to hell, but the boy that stood before her appeared as a god.

he let out a chuckle, moving his hands away after the leftover landed in mari's hand, as she was physically unable to move.

"thank you for ordering! you can cuddle with the cats while you wait for your drinks to come," the cashier offered a warm smile.

mari looked at his nametag. hyunjin. hyunjin. got it. she would definitely be stalking him tonight. definitely. mhm. true.

she ran to her best friend, squealing hard while shaking ryujin's arm.

"what the hell...what? oh my god," ryujin tried getting mari to let go from her arm, slapping her head.

"ow!" mari looked up to her with her eyebrows furrowed, "okay, look. there's this cute ass guy here."

her exhilarated emotions started to have an impact on her motions, as she looked like she was having a seizure.

"yeah, nope. i do not want to hear the rest of it. nope. i'm only here for cats. fuck boys," ryujin put in her earbuds and continued to cuddle with cats, waiting for their orders.

mari groaned, showing an exhausted expression. she moved around further into the cafe to meet the other cats. again, just vibing.

eventually, hyunjin had called out their order number. mari picked herself up from the floor, taking the chance to look at the heavenly cashier. to her surprise, she was able to receive the drinks without stuttering or making a complete fool out of herself. mari made her way back to where ryujin was to hand her the icy-cold drink. the girls both took a sip while cuddling with the swaggest cats ever. so swag, right?

mari remembered how little sleep she had actually gotten the night before. her eyelids instantly got heavier as she laid down with two cats on top of her. she took one last sip of her toasty drink before getting comfortable in the bean bag and off to sleep. of course, mari didn't mean to doze off. she ended up sleeping for a few hours in the cafe, meanwhile ryujin's rude ass did not wake her up, leaving her.

the sleepy girl woke up to someone poking her shoulder several times. she was too lazy to open her eyes, until the similar smell that hit her when she walked into the building had forced her to wake up. her sight was met with the same man she ordered the drinks from, or the man that had caused to rise to heaven.

"hey..i guess you've been..sleeping here for a while, hm? i think your friend left you behind. what a bad friend," hyunjin joked, a laugh escaping his mouth.

god, mari was still mesmerized by his eyes. her trance was stopped by hyunjin speaking up a second time.

"sorry, was that a bad joke? here, they left you a note," hyunjin squatted down in front of mar, reaching out his hand to her head.

he plucked off the sticky note that was stuck to mari's forehead. she was too busy to even notice the paper covered half of her vision. mari's face grew warm and pink as she realized how close the boy was to her. not to mention, he just grabbed something that was touching her that he was now holding in between his fingers. hyunjin turned the paper around, letting mari read what the note said.

_something came up. sorry! didn't want to wake you. see you l8r mari. -ryujin._

well, that was certainly a note. mari mentally cursed ryujin. although if she had waken mari up, she probably would not be in this situation with hyunjin. and for that, she also thanked ryujin.

"i'm so sorry. i didn't mean to sleep for that long. i mean i didn't mean to sleep at all. it was an accident. i'm just really tired. i'm sorry," mari rambled, rubbing her head and starting to get up while gathering her belongings.

"no worries! i'm glad you were comfortable enough to sleep. thank you for stopping by. although, i'm afraid i have to close the shop now. come back any time," hyunjin offered a friendly input, with hopeful eyes and added, "mari."

"shit, sorry. i really did sleep for a long time. i'm sorry, i'll leave right now," mari apologized, making her way to the exit and speedran out of the cafe without another word from hyunjin.

 _what an idiot_ , mari spoke to herself.

———  
 **author's note:**  
finally uploading chapter one feels so liberating after starting the story a month ago. we hope to upload at least once a week !! pls vote, share & comment, besties <3 - author 2, cat noir fan

how embarrassing mari what a pussy - author 1, mcyt fan (RANBOO MY BELOVED!!!!!)

p.s. check out the playlist that goes with this story called "fallingforyou" by jthfam on spotify && follow my spotify while you're at it @/jazminv240 (- author 2 or whatever 🙄).


	3. dance class

monday, october 25th, 8:20 AM

the following day fell on a monday, meaning mari had to spend 8 hours in that hell hole. another new day, just school and mari just arrived at school. along with the loud ryujin, she had an accompanying friend group, of course.

her friend group consisted of jay, rin, lennox, cisco, ryujin, and yes, let's not forget about mari!

"sup, mari. what's good?" jay slightly smiled as they saw mari walking toward them.

"HIIIIIIIII," mari turned to the person waving aggressively at her, also known as rin.

"hey, mari!" mari then turned to lennox, who spoke up.

mari finally turned to the last person: cisco!

"hey, you annoying bitch!!" cisco greeted, while trying to do the woah unironically.

the bell rung abruptly, pushing the friends to abandon each other.

"hashtag homies for life. period!" cisco exclaimed, doing needless hand gestures, while jay joined along.

mari's first class was dance, and it was her favorite class ever. jay, ryujin, and rin were also in it, so she was on her way to class with them.

"yo, what the fuck," mari said, staring at them and standing stiffly, "okay! let's fucking go. goodbye, lonely cisco and lennox!!"

"bitch, shut up," cisco flipped his invisible hair and walked away, while lennox just flipped mari and the rest off.

\------

9:20 AM

an hour into class, mari had already started growing drops of sweat on her forehead due to the extreme movement. nevertheless, it was never as bad as it could be because she was grouped with her best friends in the class. the group had decided to take a five minute break to catch their breath and get a drink of water. mari was sitting down next to ryujin on the cool wooden floor, thigh to thigh, head to shoulder.

mari was daydreaming yet again, that she had considered to be a bad habit of hers. cute boy from the cafe. lunch. after school. cute boy from the cafe. her mind always seemed to trail back to the boy she had seen the day before. suddenly, she heard the door of the classroom open, making her ears perk up and intrigued her to look up. her eyes locked on the person who had just walked through the doorway as her cheeks grew a bright pink.

no, it couldn't be. how was it possible? what was he doing here? not that mari was complaining, but she was definitely taken aback by his presence at this school in this classroom at this time.

mari blinked rapidly, convinced that she had to be hallucinating because it definitely seemed too good to be true. she rubbed her eyes. she balled her fist, producing a harsh circular motion against her eyes, leaving them heavy. nope, she was definitely seeing this right. and he was certainly here.

oh my god, did i manifest this? did my daydreaming actually cause this? god, he's so cute. wait, no, i look like absolute shit right now. i can't excuse myself to go to the bathroom because i'll have to pass by him and he'll see me. mari didn't let her thought process stop, only making her even more anxious as she buried her face into ryujins shoulder to cover herself from hyunjin's view.

rin had eventually called the group all together again, in which mari cursed hyunjin under her breath for appearing out of nowhere. mari stretched her legs in a 4-pose before getting up to start practicing again. the friends got in formation as ryujin quickly reviewed the steps they had learned prior to the break. they kicked off the dance more energetically, for the exception of mari who was now more hesitant. throughout the whole run down, mari kept an eye on hyunjin while he walked around the room. he immediately slowed down as he started to approach mari's group.

mari's heart started beating rapidly, considering hyunjin had been standing an awful longer time watching this group compared to the others. she looked up every two seconds nervously. at once, hyunjin had managed to meet mari's glancing eyes. to that, mari reacted anxiously, yet she dared to stare longer at the boy.

their eyes locked. mari's breath paused, her eyes widening as she paid close attention to hyunjin's reaction. his eyes squinted. his eyebrows furrowed. his lips formed a straight line. mari had realized hyunjin was staring directly back at her. how long was she staring at him?

as embarrassed as she was, mari refused to break eye contact. mari's attentiveness had allowed her to see how the tall boy's face softened quickly to even being adorned with a slight smirk. all the while, mari had still managed to keep up with the meticulous movements of the dance. mari was astounded by her own abilities.

she shook her head, trying to chase the thoughts of the dreamy boy away. eventually, mari was finally able to focus on her moves again and continue practicing, forgetting hyunjin still had his eyes on her, watching every move. he circled around the group, almost mesmerized by the group, or more specifically mari. however, now he was watching her in the mirror. hyunjin was magnetized as couldn't help, but stare at the detailed movements, her figure moving smoothly. he was definitely checking her out the whole time, but mari was oblivious to it and hyunjin was lost in a trance that he didn't even realize what he was doing. he brought his hand to cover his lips and chin with an intensified gaze until someone lightly slapped his head. hyunjin turned his head only to be met with minho, a close friend in the dance class, raising his brows.

minho motioned his head towards the door, giving him a signal that they're walking out of this class. hyunjin looked at mari for a second to see that she stopped dancing and took a sip of the water bottle. being a favored student, hyunjin stayed behind to talk with the dance teacher, ms. yang. the teacher usually let everyone go five minutes before the actual bell rang, meaning everyone had started packing up and saying goodbye to ms. yang.

"let's go, fucker," ryujin called out for mari.

"you go on without me. i have to talk to yang about something," mari nodded towards ryujin as she walked towards her teacher.

for fucks sake, not again. mari started to approach ms. yang when she saw none other than hyunjin stand beside the teacher. still, she proceeded to her task of inquiring her teacher of a concern.

before mari could open her mouth to form the question, the boy in front of her spoke first.

"hey," a deep voice coming from hyunjin vocalized towards mari.

"um, hi," mari's voice came out unintentionally shaky, refusing to meet hyunjin's eyes.

"oh! you two know each other?" ms. yang probed, pointing back and forth excitedly at her, dare she admit, favorite students.

"yeah, actually. right?" hyunjin admitted, smiling at mari.

"uh, not really," mari interjected at the same time the other responded.

wow, that sounded really mean. fuck, this is awkward now.

a silence surrounded them as hyunjin's head was now hanging low and a smack of the teeth was created by ms. yang. mari bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet to her heels awkwardly, reaching to scratch the back of her neck and looking around. she finally got her feet to move as she quickly shuffled out of the room before she got to ask her question, and even managed to forget it in the small amount of time. she stood outside the classroom, pushed against the wall defeatedly while covering her toasty face with her hands. mari took a minute to calm herself down, taking deep breaths. she only took them off once the blaring alarm of the class bell chimed.

time for second period, i guess.

\------

11:40 AM

mari and her complete friend group were now united once again for the time of lunch. although they never ate lunch at school because they sort of despised it, they spent most of the lunch period indoors conversing about controversial topics, such as rating the sexiest animated animal characters ranging from nick wilde of zootopia to diego from ice age.

today was no different. well, it was kind of different when cisco posed the question of, "are you okay, mari?"

the basic, simplest question was so out of the blue. is she ok?

"um, why? what's wrong? are you okay?" mari counterattacked, avoiding the question.

"i'm simply asking because i saw you having a breakdown after the first period. i wasn't able to check up on you, so i'm asking you now. what's wrong?" cisco inquired sincerely, like the mother of the friend group he was.

"i...yes. and no...," mari trailed off, meekly responding, "i kind of made myself look like a fool in front of a cute boy."

an outburst of chatter was everyone's reply to mari's answer. of course, they were happy for mari that she found a cute boy. but, they all knew mari was scared of boys and scolded her for being such a scaredy-cat.

mari groaned loudly, knowing that her short response would have created such a commotion amongst the friends. she rolled her eyes as they finally agreed to quiet down to hear mari's defense, which was plainly non-existent.

"so? what's your excuse? what happened now?" lennox interrogated the exasperated friend.

"it was in dance class. ryujin, rin, and jay know who i'm talking about. they were there," mari brought her hands to shield her face just at the thought of it.

"um, actually, no we don't. we weren't paying attention to the guy unless something happened after we left you...," jay interjected, chuckling.

plastered on everyone's face was an expression of realization, each of them forming an 'o' shape with their mouths. they all stared at mari in anticipation, waiting for her to tell her story.

"so...basically, after you all left, i stayed behind to ask yang a question. to my luck, that boy that was staring at us was actually there, too. he said hi to me and i said hi back. ms. yang asked if we were friends and he said yes, but i said no and we spoke at the same time and it was super awkward, so i ended up running out of the room," the girl finished, almost panting.

"i'm confused. so do you or do you not know each other?" rin spoke up for the rest of the group.

"here's the thing. mari and i went out yesterday to this cafe. mari told me about the worker that she thought was cute. now do you get it? that worker is that boy," ryujin put together the pieces, feeling like a mastermind in front of their friends.

"not only that, but after you left ryujin, we made a small conversation. well, it was mostly, him talking to me because i was in shock and still half-asleep. anyways, he came really close to me and he's really hot," mari rested her chin on her hand with a pleasant grin across her face.

"jesus christ, are you in love?" jay scrunched their face in a disgusted manner.

"um, hello? do you even know his name?" lennox piled another question onto mari.

"i'd like to think so, yes. and his name is hyunjin," mari's expression stayed the same despite the contrasting responses about her lovely story.

"hold on. THAT'S hyunjin hwang? the dude from dance? i've always heard his name, but never actually matched his face to that name. i thought he was like...a man whore or something," cisco quirked an eyebrow.

"umm, where did you hear that?" mari felt offended as cisco felt the need to attack the new love of her life.

"is it not true? i mean i've heard it too," lennox sided with cisco.

"what do you expect? he's a man," jay joined in.

"i mean, we don't know him personally. we shouldn't judge him yet," rin defended calmly.

"hell, i've never even heard of him, if i'm being honest," ryujin confessed.

"how is it that you all know him, but this is my first time EVER seeing him at school? hm? tell me," mari grilled her friends.

"as if we know? you're probably just too self-involved to notice," jay rolled their eyes.

all this hyunjin talk was making mari's head spin. why the hell couldn't she just act normal in front of boys? she excused herself to the use bathroom, exiting the lunch room and walking about three feet just to reach the lockers in the hallway.

and that's when the thoughts started to bombard mari's mind, making it feel unbearable. mari started talking to herself, asking herself questions as to why she was such a dumb ass when it came to boys. she physically cringed rethinking about the only moment she's been thinking about that occurred in the dance room.

"you're a what? and who's a what for being so hot?" a loud voice broke mari out of her thought process.

out of all people. out of everyone in the school. it had to be the specific person mari had in mind. this can't keep happening.

"you weren't supposed to hear any of that," mari uttered, staring blankly at the linoleum floor yet inside she was very much panicking.

"sorry, i know it's bad to eavesdrop, but it's kind of inevitable. you were cursing yourself out," hyunjin pointed out.

"um, yeah? no shit," mari blurted out before she realized what she said, quickly slapping her hands over her mouth.

why was she so mean to the boys she liked? it was a way of showing her affection, right?

"wow, i'm sorry. i didn't mean...," hyunjin left his sentence unfinished, chuckling to himself.

"no, i'm sorry. i didn't mean it. i don't know why i said that. i'm just nervous," mari cursed herself, yet again for oversharing.

the nervous part was unnecessary and now hyunjin was going to think mari liked him. well, she did. didn't she?

"it's okay. who were you talking about, by the way? you called them a bitch for being sexy," hyunjin laughed at mari's silly remarks.

"none of your business," mari looked up and around, looking anywhere but at boy's face.

one of the big doors leading to the lunch room swung open to expose the person coming towards the hall. the two teens turned their direction to where the noise came from. the person behind the door was ryujin who had come looking for mari, realizing she took a while to come back from the bathroom.

"hey, um...," ryujin realized mari wasn't alone before she continued to speak, "i was looking for you."

ryujin looked back at hyunjin after direction her statement towards mari and returned her gaze at mari.

"oh, uh, i...," mari looked back at ryujin and hyunjin, wanting to say goodbye to hyunjin, but not knowing if it was really appropriate.

before leaving, hyunjin offered mari a hand wave, in which mari returned while being pulled away by ryujin back into the lunch room.

"what just happened?" ryujin questioned mari after looking back to make sure that they were far enough from hyunjin so that he couldn't hear them.

"i'll tell you later," mari sighed, still being tugged at the sleeve by her best friend.

———  
 **author's note**  
i get a lot of pussy - admin 1  
so true - admin 2 aka l lawliet kinnie

  



	4. broken vending machine

tuesday, october 26th, 11:40 AM

another day of hell. except, maybe it wasn’t so bad because she liked someone now. or at least she thought so. she was still questioning her life after yesterday’s incident. mari looked over to her usual lunch table and saw her friend group, laughing their asses off and jumping around. she decided that wasn’t in the mood today, so she ditched them and walked around the campus. perhaps she’ll return later, she decided. 

she landed on getting a snack from the vending machine. with some oreos in mind, she pulled her backpack in front of her to find her wallet. the vending machine appeared to be rusty and a little low on the stock. not paying much attention, mari pushed her coins into the slot and punched in the resonating numbers in. her eagerness and craving only grew as she watched the spiral move in a circular motion. she waited and waited and waited for her snack to fall down, but nothing happened. 

“great! just what i needed. an old broken vending machine and an appetite,” mari spoke to herself, “i fucking hate my life.” 

she grabbed her hair tie from her wrist, gathering her hair to form a ponytail before she heard the footsteps coming towards her. she turned her head to see who was approaching. not again. 

“you waiting for your snack to fall?” hyunjin questioned, looking at the vending machine then back at mari. 

“well...yeah,” she looked up at hyunjin slowly and back down to her feet. 

“i mean, did you pay for it?” the taller boy posed a reply with an obvious answer.

“oh, no. i’m actually just using my telekinesis to drop one,” mari rolled her eyes at the stupid inquiry, failing to hide her modest grin.

“woah, chill...you can’t just go around telling everyone you have supernatural powers,” hyunjin started walking closer, laughing at mari’s sarcastic joke, “look, i got this.”

hyunjin stood before the humongous black box as he brought his arm to give it a few hits, making mari flinch at the loud noises. not too long after, the blue packaged cookies produced a  _ thump _ when hitting the bottom of the box. 

“what the fuck. how?” mari glanced at the fallen cookies and returned to hyunjin, expressing her confusion.

“uh...i just punch it. i don’t know. i do that all the time. something was probably stuck, i guess,” hyunjin winked at mari before saying, “or maybe it’s just my psychic abilities.”

mari let out a loud sigh, bending down to grab a snack. her cheeks were dusted with a pink blush due to hyunjin’s flirty actions. when she got back up, she immediately ripped open the wrapping. mari had forgotten about hyunjin’s presence that when she looked up, he was no longer in front of her. instead, he was standing almost 5 feet in front of her. 

“you coming?” hyunjin stood in place, looking back at mari with a raised eyebrow. 

mari hesitated for a bit before realizing she really needed to stop being so afraid to talk to him. you only live once. am i right? 

she shuffled quickly to catch up to hyunjin, but he didn’t continue walking. mari looked up at the boy and he looked back down. the shorter girl panicked and rapidly turned her head. they started walking together, but mari was now second guessing her decision. 

she was pondering on if she should run away again because of how much of a pussy she was. mari had always wished she could just be friends and talk to boys properly. cisco was the easiest boy to talk to. what was so different about every other guy? maybe because she had known cisco for a long time.

“you good? you’re not hanging out with your friends like you usually do,” mari’s thoughts were interrupted and looked up at the tall boy. 

“what do you mean? you’ve seen me around before?” she stopped in her tracks, realizing he mentioned “like you usually do.” 

“well, yeah. i mean, i’ve been here since the beginning of junior year. that doesn’t necessarily mean i was in class at all times, but i’m trying. you’re kinda loud, aren’t you?” hyunjin asked, looking over at mari with a dopey smile. 

“i have genuinely never seen you before. and i’m not loud...just...,” mari trailed off as she realized that maybe hyunjin was right.

she looked down, watching every step she took and while nibbling on her snack. hyunjin slightly smiled and let a small sigh out through his nose, putting his hands in his jacket pockets. he turned his head forward to see three kids, which seemed to be mari’s friends, approaching them.

“um, looks like your-,” hyunjin cleared his throat with a stern look, only to be told off by cisco with an aggressive  _ shhh  _ and an intense stare. 

hyunjin didn’t know what to do, so he turned to mari giving her a nervous smile with wide eyes. mari was just as nervous, considering that her friends knew perfectly well about mari’s infatuation with hyunjin. however, when she turned her head to look back at hyunjin, she mouthed a “go with it.” although the boy didn’t truly understand  _ what  _ he had to go with, he complied anyways. 

“OOOH, so this is what hyunjin hwang looks like,” cisco pointed at hyunjin, “hmm, wait. hold on, aren’t you that kid who snuck out of the school to set someone’s car on fire?”

“oh, yeah! didn’t you also go to juvie or something?” jay interjected, “but, fuck cops. am i right?” 

“no way! you rock, man! not to mention, eating a whole duck for the exception of the eyeballs. you’re legendary,” ryujin nodded slowly and dramatically. 

“um…what..,” hyunjin finally spoke up after being bombarded with curious accusations coming from mari’s friends.

“i know i play minecraft way too much, but i never thought it’d be to the point where i’d be seeing the enderman in real life,” jay pushed ciscos shoulder before he could say anything more. 

“okay. hypothetically, if i was the enderman, i would have killed you right now. i mean, i know, when you look at enderman-,” before hyunjin could finish his thoughts, jay stopped him.

“yo, you play minecraft? yeah, mari, he's a keeper,” jay slapped their mouth, realizing what they had just said. 

well, hyunjin understood what they were saying, but he didn’t understand why it seemed like he was being interrogated by some weirdos. mari aggressively pulled jay and cisco’s by their ears and walked further in front of hyunjin. the short walk was accompanied with an  _ ows  _ and  _ ahhs  _ coming from the kids, with ryujin trailing behind.

“I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE...OR ARE IN LOVE WITH A BAD-,” jay exclaimed, rubbing their ear from the excruciating pain it was put under, only to be interrupted by mari. 

“JAY! SHUT THE HELL UP!” mari yelled at jay back, reaching to cover jay’s mouth with her hand.

“Y’ALL FUCKING ANNOYING AS HELL!!” cisco scolded at the both who were screaming at each other. 

“fucking chill, y’all,” ryujin covered her ears, as her face was painted with an annoyed expression.

meanwhile, hyunjin stood alone, trying to process what just happened. 

_ \------ _


	5. prepared for party

wednesday, october 27th, 11:40 AM

mari arrived at her usual lunch table with her friends already sitting around it. memories of the stunt that her three friends pulled in front of hyunjin easily flooded back at the sight of them. her friends' heads perked up to the sound of mari's steps, meeting with the look of mari's annoyed expression.

"awww, are you still mad?" cisco cooed, tilting his head.

"i hate you guys so much," mari huffed, folding her arms across her chest as she sat down at the table, "y'all are so embarrassing. you motherfuckers had the audacity, to feel the need, to say that shit out loud." 

she was so scared about what hyunjin thought about yesterday. and why her friends were acting so weird around him. and if he heard jay's yelling about being in love with someone. i mean, they didn't say a name, but he would have assumed that they were talking about him. to say that she was worried was an understatement. mari was frightened and dreaded for the next time, if or when, she ran into hyunjin.

"goddamn...," jay stood up and cleared their throat, while cisco and ryujin stood straight behind them as if they were guards, "dear mari, we sincerely apologize for the incident we caused yesterday morning. we understand that embarrassing ourselves in front of the love of your life and exposing that you like him may lead to frustration and stress. we are sorry that your boy crush might hate you for having the coolest friends ever. we hope we didn't damage our friendship and we promise to be more careful in the future, so that this kind of incident never arises again."

mari gave all three of them a death glare. she swore she was so close to ending them.

lennox and rin turned to look at each other then the kids, their faces full of confusion and curiosity.

"what happened?" rin sighed, not surprised because, of course, it was always the same three stirring up some trouble.

"well, after you and lennox went off, we walked around and saw that mari was talking to hyunjin next to the vending machines. we went to them and started making random accusations of him. we're so funny!" cisco smiled pleasantly, explaining the incident with hand motions.

"he looked terrified of us!" jay laughed loudly along with ryujin, "you know, our accusations weren't even that far off, i bet. we have heard some crazy things about him."

mari plugged in her earphones to block out the noise of her miserable friends.

"um...anyways, speaking of," ryujin turned her head to mari, taking out one of her earbuds, "there is a halloween party this friday."

everyone turned their heads to mari, smirking. they all knew what ryujin was going to follow up with after. and they all knew why she mentioned it to mari. mari was still completely clueless, due to her inactivity in the group chat.

"what's that gotta do with hyunjin?" mari blinked blankly.

"he's going to be there," ryujin winked at mari, wiggling her eyebrows.

"if all of you are going, i'm not. please, that would be so embarrassing," mari covered her face with both of her hands just thinking about it.

"mari! please, we literally promised we wouldn't do it again! please, please come with us," ryujin pouted, shaking mari's arm

mari pondered on this as if it was a life or death situation. she wondered if it was even a good idea to go, which signified that she had to face him. or maybe she could run away if she saw hyunjin.

"we were also thinking of going to the store to buy some costumes!" lennox cheered excitedly.

"fine, i'll go," mari closed her eyes, sighing and mentally preparing herself for her friends' erness.

\------

2:30 PM

after school, the others waited for mari outside of the school gates. mari looked around anxiously while walking towards her friend group.

"mari, come on! it's shopping time!" cisco yelled, clapping his hands.

"okay, bitch. i can hear you, geez," mari rubbed her eyes, considering she was slept through her class.

"get in the car!" lennox called as they walked around their car to open the opposite door.

"the what?" mari's eyes were still half closed.

"a four-wheeled road vehicle that is powered by an engine and is able to carry-," lennox walked over to mari, then over at their car with a straight face.

"shut the hell up," mari interrupted groggily, walking lazily to the car and getting in the backseat.

\------

on the ride to their local party store, cisco and jay argued on who should get to play their music. jay insisted on playing my chemical romance, while cisco wanted to play his random mix of 80s rave music. in the end, lennox denied both of their requests and concluded their debate by shuffling their own playlist which consisted of sad songs that only brought everyone's mood down. moreover, each friend was in their own world, staring outside the window as if they were filming a sad music video to heartbreaking lyrics by lana del rey.

"and we're here!" the slow sounds and gloomy emotions were interrupted when lennox instantaneously broke their train of thoughts.

one after the other, they each exited the car and skipped thrillingly to the big building. the doors slid open automatically and the group was hit by that smell of the store. the smell of carpet. the smell of new things.

at the front of the store were more basic elements of a halloween costume, like the wigs or accessories. however, the friends were planning on going to the party with extravagant outfits. they walked into the further part of the store, the back, where they found full costume sets.

cisco had wandered off, meanwhile the rest of the friends were deciding on what they wanted to be. in a short while, mari had decided that she wanted to be a cat girl as she picked up a set with cat ears and a tail. cisco eventually regrouped with his friends.

ryujin, jay, and cisco were spending most of their time picking up random props and playing with them which only led to them rolling on the floor laughing. lennox and rin stayed shushing them before they got kicked out. mari just joked along with the loud three, yet was still paranoid of getting in trouble.

"i swear, that person has been giving us stares ever since we got here," lennox pointed out, motioning with their head for everyone to look in that direction.

"well, i don't blame them. these dumb kids are making my head hurt," rin rolled her eyes.

and just as they expected, the worker that they suspected was side eyeing them started walking towards them. cisco had a white, long-haired wig, while jay had a ridiculous, frightening mask and a sword in one hand from play fighting with ryujin. their attention was then targeted at the disturbed employee.

"look, i don't know what you people are here to do, but you're being excessively loud. i'm going to need you all to pay right now and leave if you're not willing to quiet down," the worker spoke aggressively to the group, to which they only stayed silent.

"yeah, we're really sorry. we'll be leaving right now after paying," rin excused her friends, offering an apologetic look to the employee.

"yeah, i hope so," the worker spoke under their breath before turning around and continued their work in another aisle.

after the person was out of their sight, the friend group bursted out laughing. they were aware that they were being loud, but the way they viewed it was that the worker's reaction was extremely uncalled for. although lennox and rin were nagging at the rest, they agreed with them that the employee was plain rude.

before leaving to pay, lennox and jay chose to match costumes and picked up outfits to dress up as emily and victor from corpse bride. in their defense, emily and victor should have ended up together. rin only chose out a pair of angel wings, as she would be dressing up as juliet from romeo + juliet with leonardo dicaprio. ryujin had a hard time deciding, but in time landed on portraying the countess from american horror story, but of course with her own gothic twist. ultimately, cisco selected accessories for his representation of the one and only, bob ross.

the group gathered their stuff and reached the front of the store to finally pay. to their excellent luck, the person that was ringing them up was the same employee to tell them off for being disruptive. it was not surprising when the worker showed hostility when scanning their things, while looking up and glaring occasionally.

nevertheless, they carried their costumes out feeling accomplished and satisfied with their purchases. and now, they couldn't wait for the party on friday.

\------  
 **author's note**

enjoy ig - author 2, currently spiraling

i bought ranboos merch this week. if his 6'6 ass runs up to me bc he saw me wearing his merch in public.... - author 1, thinking about life


	6. drunk on halloween

friday, october 29th, 7:28 PM

mari called ryujin to come over to her house before the party to help her get ready. just as mari was going to start on her makeup, she heard a hard knocking on her enormous window. she turned around, as she was sitting at her desk that faced the wall and placed across her bed.

ryujin knocked continuely to which mari responded with an "i'm coming!" she got up from her seat and rushed to the window, unlocking it and sliding it to allow ryujin to climb in.

"took you long enough," ryujin huffed, pulling herself up and falling inside mari's room with a _thump._

"sorry, geez. just trying to get myself looking sexy for hyunjin," mari bit her lip sarcastically.

"you freak," ryujin laughed, shaking her head.

ryujin brought her costume in a bag to change at mari's, along with a bit of facepaint. she threw the luggage onto mari's bed before taking off her jacket to also drop it on the bag.

"do my makeup, bitch," mari whined, returning to her vanity.

"okay, damn," ryujin responded, before grabbing her eyeliner pen and moving mari's head to face ryujin.

she started drawing a cat eye-like line on mari's eyelids, and then adding more under mari's eyes. ryujin looked for a jet black lipstick in her makeup bag. _aha._ she grabbed it and slid it across mari's lips. mari smacked her lips multiple times. she then turned away from ryujin and then focused on the mirror.

"I LOOK SO GOOD!" mari examined her face from every angle in the mirror.

"i know, i'm so talented," ryujin threw her hands up triumphantly.

after the makeup was finished, mari roamed to her walk-in closet and searched for her black cat ears and tail. she closed the door behind her and once she walked out, she was fully dressed. mari's costume consisted of a leather, long sleeve turtle neck and a matching leather skirt, with black belt and long, glossy leather gloves. she accompanied it with her knee high, high-heel boots.

"how do i look?" mari exited her closet, giving ryujin a catwalk.

"don't want to say it because i already know what you want to hear," ryujin smiled widely ironically, "but absolutely extravagant and we're definitely going to put others to shame with our sexy costumes."

ryujin's look was further simpler than mari's and therefore, only took up ten minutes or less. she walked over to where she had set down her costume and pulled out her long black dress. the garment was a long sleeve, mock neck with a slit on the lower leg part. ryujin unzipped the dress, stepped into it and pulled it up.

"zip me up, stupid," ryujin pulled her hair to the front and looked back at mari.

"welcome," mari rolled her eyes, while she pulled up the zipper.

ryujin reached down for the white face paint she brought along with her. the pale makeup was absolutely necessary for this look. she walked over to mari's desk that was now unoccupied, grabbing a brush to cover her face in the snow-like powder. ryujin made sure not to overwork the makeup, so she didn't look like a complete white person. she picked up a brush from mari's table, along with a brown eyeshadow in order to create the winged eye makeup. at last, she grabbed the onyx eyeliner to finish the top part of the face. following, ryujin filled in her lips with a maroon lipstick, outlining it with a black liner and completing it with a shiny gloss.

"hey, help me with the fake blood," ryujin looked at mari through the mirror.

mari complied, opening up ryujin's bag with the fake blood and sponge. she strolled to ryujin, lifting herself up to sit on her desk and started dabbing the pigmented substance on ryujin's neck to her mouth.

"oh my god, you look so hot," mari squealed, covering her mouth and kicking her legs back and forth.

"yeah, thanks. i know," ryujin smirked, getting up for the last time to receive her matching black gloves, "let's go, bitch."

\-----

8:00 PM

cisco had been selected to be the designated driver on the way back from the party, just in case. although he knew how to drive, he didn't exactly have his car yet. therefore, they borrowed lennox's car to ride to their destination.

windows rolled down and the wind sweeping their faces. the group sang along to _smells like teen spirit_ by nirvana.

"let me out!" cisco yelled at lennox to open the sunroof, so he could stick his head out and scream on the top of his lungs.

like the million other times, lennox opened the window above as cisco stood on the seat, his hands resting on the roof of the car. lennox sped up and cisco lifted his hands above his head, the air gave him life. jay and rin bounced up and down on their seats, jamming to the song and ryujin sang every single word to the lyrics. here we got mari sitting on the floor that are below the backseat, looking a bit terrified. by and by, mari joined the rest of her friends, banging her head.

"YESSS!!!" cisco screamed, rocking his head.

"shut the hell up, bob ross. i might fucking crash. oh my fucking god," lennox grabbed the bottom of cisco's shirt, putting their hand in the backseat behind and tugged him down.

cisco gave them an eyeroll, sitting down, but ended up rolling down the side window and screamed as he sticks out his head again. jay did the same as cisco, and starting to play fight in the air. while cisco and jay swore at each other, mari suddenly felt her anxiety building up all because of hyunjin. she couldn't tell if she was excited or nervous. mari swallowed her uneasiness.

they finally arrived at the party, which already seemed to be full with cars in the driveway. none of them had an actual clue of whose party it was, but they assumed it was probably some rich white guy. in anticipation, the friends got out of the car hurriedly. lennox ran over to the opposite side, running to jay and grabbing their hand. feet away, they could hear music blasting throughout the house. teenagers were dancing and socializing on the front lawn and even a girl vomiting in a bush.

lennox and jay led the rest of the group inside, with the unrelieved member being mari as she was the first one to sit down defeatedly.

"get the fuck up! we did not come to sit down," ryujin pulled mari's hand and dragged her to the center of the room.

ryujin grabbed a hold of both of mari's hand and they swayed back and forth, ryujin twirling the other occasionally. cisco started twerking and circled around jay and lennox. rin was on the outside, still cheering on cisco. the flashing lights from red to purple and _disco tits_ by tove lo boomed from the speakers.

sweaty bodies rubbed against each other, and careless adolescents get it on in the midst of the crowd. the intoxication of alcohol ran through their bloodstreams after accepting drinks from an acquaintance. mari was the first to start feeling her vision go blurry, and her movements getting sloppier. everything was moving by so fast, yet so slow.

"I HAVE TO GO GET SOME FRESH AIR!" mari yelled at ryujin over the blaring sounds, to which ryujin responded by patting her shoulder.

mari's wobbly legs carried her into the kitchen, attempting to find the bathroom to be alone. she held onto the walls, walking slowly to make sure she didn't fall. however, mari's daze ceased after she felt herself bump into someone. her eyes must've been half closed. or maybe, it was just her foggy vision with the flashing lights. she managed to stand up and straighten herself to see the interference.

although her vision was blurry, mari was able to make out the face of a girl with curly hair in a tutu. just in front of her stood the person with an exceptionally familiar face. he stood towering over mari and the girl before her. his blonde hair falling at his neck. the boy's eyelids were dusted with a crimson blush. fake scarlet blood smeared on the corners of his lips. his faux canine teeth were grown keen. mari fantasized, analyzing every measure of his presence intensely.

"um, what the fuck. you just made me spill my drink on hyunjin. what the hell is your problem?" mari's concentration was broken by the previous girl yelling at her for wetting hyunjin's shirt.

"i'm so sorry, i was just...i didn't mean to. i'm really sorry," the drunken girl jumbled out.

her embarrassment was beyond compare. she was drunk and was at fault for splashing alcohol on the taller boy. mari felt the anxiousness filling in her chest, burning with the mix of liquor and jealousy. she felt it ascending towards her throat. mari moved swiftly past the former girl and boy until she arrived at the vacant bathroom.

her breathing was heavy, feeling her own pulse to her head. mari pushed the door with intent of shutting it, only for it to leave a small gap. the color red spilled through the crevice. she pushed herself up to sit on the bathroom sink, with slight trouble as her dizziness had an affect on her stableness. mari let her head rest on the mirror behind her, tilting her jaw upwards to stare at the ceiling.

 _breathe in. breathe out. breathe in. breathe out._ mari repeated until she felt her breathing relax. her lungs filled with oxygen like balloons and released the gas steadily.

she heard the door hinges creak when someone tried to enter. mari looked to her right and was met with the face of a lustful vampire.

"sorry, i didn't realize you were in here," hyunjin entered the bathroom smoothly, only pushing the door slightly after him.

"it's fine. i'm sorry for earlier. i didn't mean to...you know," mari looked for the right words, but only failed.

mari was still completely tipsy, her words cluttered and mind in disarray. maybe, just maybe, if she tried focusing on one single thing, her thoughts would organize themselves. the confused teen looked down at her hands that were placed in her lap, playing with her own fingers. a breathy laugh fell out of her lips.

"what's so funny? you're happy that you spilled a drink on me?" hyunjin smiled smugly as he looked up at mari, while turning on the faucet.

"i wasn't even...yeah," mari nodded, giggling continuingly and using her hand to cover her mouth.

she didn't exactly know why she was laughing, but she was. and the fact that she had no idea why she was laughing made it even funnier. it was a continuous cycle.

hyunjin chuckled, shaking his head as he wet a cotton rag that was kept on the counter. he patted the stain of the spiked cherry punch on his white button up. while hyunjin was wholly occupied, mari took this chance to fully examine the boy before her.

his outfit was overshadowed by his long cape that tied around his neck. the inside was a wine red silk lining. hyunjin's bottoms consisted of black fabric dress pants that complimented him flawlessly, along with shiny black oxfords. mari got a whiff of his addictive smell composed predominantly of citrus and sandalwood with a minor of roses.

mari acted impulsively, not realizing what she was doing, whether it was the sudden burst of confidence or the booze in her veins. her hand acted on its own, clasping hyunjin's wrist that halted him from his former actions. hyunjin followed the rail of mari's arm up to her face. their eyes encountered each other, filled with the similar yearning. the standing boy took a swig of the liquor from the cheap, plastic cup with his left, empty hand. titling his head back, mari and hyunjin occupied the same expression, eyes never leaving each other. mari watched as his throat grew bugged when swallowing the burning alcohol. hyunjin returned the cup to the counter as mari pulled on his wrist, forcing him to come closer. mari stopped tugging at the boy's arm once he was directly in front of her, letting go of it immediately.

mari's hands placed themselves on hyunjin's broad shoulders, bringing hyunjin into mari's charm. her hands shifted and clasped each other behind the teenager's neck. the girl above tilted her head, inching closer and closer to the other until she could hear hyunjin's breathing. the next moment, mari's lips crashed onto hyunjin's, starting to move them rhythmically, as did hyunjin. their jaws moved in sync, the same lust passed in between them.

hyunjin budged his hands to mari's waist hesitantly, but then assuredly as mari enveloped the back of the boy's neck and head with her hand. their eyes closed blissfully into the caress.

_ according to your heart. my place is not deliberate. feeling of your arms. _

the words of the song evinced the requited passion of the embrace. the possibility that this evocation could be forgotten by the next morning was at the back of their minds. their lips bruised and mouths recognized each other like of old intimates. tongues rasping against each other, flaming in their mouths and spreading to the flesh outside.

_i don't wanna be your friend. i wanna kiss your neck._

mari desired for the soul kiss to endure forevermore. if mari was ever sure about anything in her life, it was that this kiss seemed genuine. hyunjin and mari pulled away at the same time steadily, until they were apart and staring at each other. the boy had a residue of the blazing moonshine in his mouth. mari had gotten a flavor of the glowing liquor. swallowing hardly, she savored the intense syrup that she thought tasted of liquid gold. the divine substance coated mari's throat, making her feel holy.

"wow," was all mari could pronounce.

"likewise," hyunjin rejoined softly.

hyunjin was the first to let go of the embrace, leaving mari on the counter as he walked over to lean against the bathtub and sit on the cold tile floor. his head rested on the bumpy painted wall. the teenager's eyes fixated on the girl who was across from him. mari hopped off the counter carefully, following hyunjin's actions mesmerizingly. she held onto the outside of the bath and sat herself next to hyunjin. their shoulders meshed together and thighs connected. mari felt a heaviness take over her body, a fatigueness. her eyes fluttered shut as she slipped into a peaceful slumber. her neck bailed on carrying her head, prompting it to fall on the other's pleasant shoulders. hyunjin felt the warmth on his shoulder, looking over to see mari with a tranquil expression and grinned faintly. the boy followed mari and allowed himself to doze off soothingly.

\-------

"HEY CISCO!" cisco stopped dancing as ryujin spun him around, "WHERE IS MARI?

ryujin recalled mari walking off as she told ryujin that she was going to get some fresh air. she left for seven minutes and ryujin started to worry with mari's lightweight wandering off by herself. ryujin looked for her friend, but she had no luck finding her in the crowd, causing ryujin to worry.

"I DON'T KNOW! DID YOU LOSE HER?" cisco yelled back, shaking his head, "COME ON, YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THIS. YOU FUCKING BITCH!!"yyyyyyyyyyyyyy

"OKAY, LOOK. WE HAVE TO GO FIND HER AND THE OTHERS!" ryujin responded in a hurry.

"FINE!" cisco decided, nodding to ryujin.

they both ran off the dance floor, separating themselves like spies in order to find their friends quicker. cisco knew what was most likely to appear behind each closed door, but he decided to take the risk in case his friends were there. he knocked on every door, and ended up bumping into someone. however, cisco was grateful to realize that the person had a familiar face.

"RIN! oh my god, i am so glad i found you. we have to go find mari and jay," cisco recapped, putting his hand on his heart expressing his relief.

"oh, what the fuck-," she was dragged by cisco, before rin could finish her sentence.

he opened an unlocked door only to see that jay and a girl was making out on a bed. the teens on the bed turned their heads to the ones at the door, frightening all of them as they exclaimed loudly at each other that followed for a while until rin shut the door.

"this is...the worst day of my fucking life!" cisco walked away dramatically, covering his eyes, and mumbling _no_ repeatedly _._

rin found this rather amusing as she started laughing at their expression. after jay was interrupted, they decided it was just best to leave, following the former incident.

meanwhile, ryujin was still trying to find mari. she decided to search in the one place she hasn't already: the bathroom. ryujin saw that the door was creaked open. she peaked cautiously, hoping that it was just mari in there and not some kids making out. opening the door, she was relieved to find that it was just mari, and hyunjin, sleeping comfortably on each other. _how curious,_ ryujin thought to herself.

both of their lips were smeared with a dark red remnant of paint. could it be? what a coincidence that their lips were smudged with the same pigment. ryujin knew that they were probably not aware of what they were doing due to their drunken states. she chuckled, trying to pick mari up, putting her arm around her shoulder, and pulled her up from the floor. ryujin figure one of hyunjin's friends would come for him _eventually._

ryujin started to hear the well known, loud voices coming from her friends. she exited the bathroom with mari, grunting and turned to see cisco and jay arguing as usual. lennox stood in the midst with a confused expression and rin was beside, enjoying her cupcake.

"damn, what the hell happened now?" ryujin asked as she signaled for someone to help her with mari.

cisco and jay ignored ryujin's question, continuing their discussion. rin walked forward to help hold the sleepy drunk girl, placing herself at the opposite side of mari.

"to answer your question, jay was making out with a girl and me and cisco interrupted it. yeah...," rin answered.

"damn, we need go take mari home. she passed out next to the bathtub...," ryujin debated on if she should mention hyunjin.

ryujin didn't want to embarrass her mari. not to mention, she would probably forget by the next morning. she chose to not say anything.

"yeah, let's go," lennox agreed, grabbing jay and cisco by their wrists to get the fuck out of this bitch.

"this felt like a fever dream, god." rin added.

cisco slapped lennox's head lightly, telling them to give him the keys because the exhausted mother had to drive now. rin and ryujin carefully placed mari down on the backseat, both sighing loudly after they were done. then, rin noticed that mari was starting to move.

"hey, you good, bro? mari is waking up, i think," rin asked mari, then addressed the rest of the group.

mari must have drank a lot, as she coughed multiple times.

"hell, no. rin, get a bag from back there and give it to mari," lennox foresaw the next event, but it was too late.

mari bowed down, facing the floor and gagged. the vomit landed on the car floor and the whole group groaned.

"NOT IN MY FUCKING CAR! i hate it here," lennox rolled their eyes before getting into the back seat.

the rest got ready in their seats and shut the door, dreading the way back home and having to deal with the atrocious scent. it was so silence. no one really talked and no music was played either. just quiet. it wasn't an awkward silence, just a drained silence. they all craved the homely atmosphere of their bed after the exhausting party. in the backseat, jay was about on the verge of passing out. lennox sat on ryujin's thighs, as there were only three seats in the back. mari was straight up fucked. rin sat in the passenger seat next to cisco. the humming smell was starting to bother them and urged everyone to open the windows.

cisco focused on the road and rin admired the air coming inside and looked out the window. how onerous. they finally arrived at mari's house at 11 p.m. the very exhausted cisco got out of the car and helped ryujin get mari out of the car. mari's bedroom window was just around the corner, to the left side of the house. ryujin reached above to unlock the gate from the inside. mari had made sure to leave her window a bit cracked, just enough so that they could open it from the outside again. they walked quietly, leaves crunching beneath them, to mari's window. ryujin brought out her phone to turn on the flashlight to search for the box or chair around the area.

"hurry up, bro," cisco whispered as he drops mari down on the floor, making a noise.

ryujin gave him a questioning as a response to cisco dropping mari on the floor. she slid the window to the left and snuck in quietly.

cisco struggled to carry mari up and instead placed her on the chair that was in front of the window. he then stood on the stool and pulled himself up, jumping inside the room. ryujin lifted mari, making cisco pull her from the inside. she put her arm under the girl's legs and the other carried her by the shoulders. the task wearied them, but mari was successfully tugged inside. ryujin was the last to pull herself up and jump inside.

finally, the sleeping beauty made it to her bed. ryujin took a minute to catch her breath and turned her head to look at cisco, giving him an eye roll and mouthing an 'i hate you.' they carried mari to her bed, uncovering her mattress with the comforter. ryujin grabbed a makeup wipe, cleaning mari's makeup off and pulling her hair up. she made sure to get rid of the red smudged makeup around her lips.

 _they were definitely making out for a long time from the look of the red on her mouth and cheek,_ ryujin thought to herself, _she might not remember at all._

cisco took off mari's boots and gloves before they tucked her in. ryujin checked if she still had the mini hangover pill in her pocket, she found a sticky note and wrote "hey, its ryujin, you messy head. lol, take the hangover medicine when you wake up!" and stuck it on mari's forehead.

while the cisco and ryujin took mari inside, the others cleaned up the mess in the car. in the end, they slid out the window silently, remembering to close mari's window. what a long day it was.

 _\------_  
 **author's note**  
i bet you're screaming rn - author 1, eating boba ice cream

this chapter was so fun to write - author 2, having a breakdown

**Author's Note:**

> we also uploaded this book on wattpad @/bxxtifullixr :)


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